the basic furman system provides a nice balance between just sending a stereo mix...and each member having full control of the mix.

i find with 90% of the projects i do...a solid stereo mix...with the ability for the musicians to add a bit more of 4 other sources...usually works great.

often times, i've used larger systems..and while they are certainly really nice...most musicians who do not do studio work all the time often get overwhelmed and spend more time playing with the knobs than concentrating on a part.

the only other system i've been curious about is the hearback rig. i do find that often i wish i could have just 2 more inputs when i am tracking a larger band. most of my work consists of bands tracking live together.

We had the smaller Furman system here for years in Studio A, and still have it now moved into our Studio B

But recently we got the larger Furman 16 system for A...man, what a huge difference.

It is so much better.

I used to work at a place that had the small Furman system. I could just never fully get what I felt the players needed on the pots--not quite enough flexibility. And I don't know if they had it set up wrong, but the thing had no headroom--it would distort at just slightly above normal levels. In my [limited] experience with it, the big system seems MUCH better: more flexible and a lot more guts headroom-wise. Mytek Private Q is also good in both flexibility and headroom.

I used to work at a place that had the small Furman system. I could just never fully get what I felt the players needed on the pots--not quite enough flexibility. And I don't know if they had it set up wrong, but the thing had no headroom--it would distort at just slightly above normal levels. In my [limited] experience with it, the big system seems MUCH better: more flexible and a lot more guts headroom-wise...

This is also my experience. I track a lot of really loud bands, and could never get the level I needed out of it. No headroom at all. Plus, those cat5/RJ-45 connections are a total disaster. The connectors were constantly breaking. As gear that will typically see a lot of hours on duty, it could really use something more robust for the connections.

cat 5 is pretty tough to beat as far as what it can offer in signal distribution and bandwidth. the connectors do indeed suck for what we do. neutrik "ethercon" connectors should be standard for all pro audio/studio gear that requires the use of CAT 5.

I've been using the small Furman system since 2000 & while I loathe the Cat5 connectors (which break easily), the system works well as long as you label correctly & "educate" your clients constantly on how to use it. No headroom issues. I'd love to graduate to the bigger Furman system, but as I mostly mix these days, I can't justify the expense.